Seeking Higher Ground

COMMUNITY SPORTS

The First Woman To Make The Playoffs In The Broward Grand Prix Tennis Ladder Isn't Striking A Blow For Women's Lib. She Just Wants To Play Tennis.

October 22, 1995|By HARVEY FIALKOV and Special to the Sun-Sentinel

Manon Rheaume became the first woman to play professional hockey three years ago when she was in the nets for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game. Junior golfer Cristie Kerr earlier this month played in the usually all-male Florida Open.

Laura Santamaria isn't interested in breaking down any gender walls. Tired of playing the same people all the time, Santamaria just wants to hit tennis balls against different opponents, rather than backboards.

That's why for the second season in a row, Santamaria, 23, a television editor for a Boca Raton production house, has signed up to compete against mostly men in the Broward Grand Prix tennis ladder.

"Since I taught my husband in 1992, he got better than me very fast," said Santamaria, who lives with Jose in Tamarac. "I got tired of getting beat. I want to improve my game by playing different players with different styles and techniques, and get exercise at the same time."

The Grand Prix, a computerized tennis ladder in which players are ranked according to their match scores, was devised by Don Lawrie, a teaching pro at West Wind Tennis Park in Lauderhill. The primary purpose for constructing the ladder was to bring players of similar skill levels together, sort of a computer matchmaking service.

The computer program is inputted by Micheal Martin, a free-lance computer programmer living in Pompano Beach. Players receive the rankings each week.

For a while, the Santamarias were closely matched, but soon the more powerful pupil surpassed the teacher.

"Ever since Laura taught me, I haven't been able to put it down," said Jose Santamaria, 25, a native of Panama. "She's responsible for my addiction."

Laura Santamaria, nee Lorge, grew up in frigid Minnesota where she made it to her high school state playoffs. Seeking a warmer climate to better pursue her sport of choice, Santamaria played college tennis at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.

"In Minnesota you get to play four months out of the year," she said. "It's 30 degrees in October, and I'd be playing in sweats and long underwear. Here, I can play every day."

Santamaria was 6-6 in the 3.5 division last season, with five of the victories coming against men. She became the first woman to make it to the playoffs where she lost in the semifinals.

"When I call the guys to play, they figure they've got a better than 50-50 shot at beating me," said Santamaria. "They thought I'd be easier."

Some of the men wouldn't return Santamaria's calls, possibly figuring they had nothing to gain other than what they would perceive as an embarrassing loss. That wasn't the case for Dave Rosenbaum, a free-lance sportswriter from Parkland, who narrowly defeated Santamaria in two of their three league matches.

"I've got no problem with it," said Rosenbaum, who made it to the 3.5 final before losing to Ralph Willems of Coconut Creek, 6-3, 3-5, retired. "She's better than most men in the league. By the time you finished warmups, you know she can hit and hit hard."

Jose Santamaria, who made it to the 4.0 finals, before losing to the top-seeded Rick Garmon of Coconut Creek, 6-1, 6-2, shares in his wife's pursuit of more challenging matches. Rather than being jealous of his wife calling men for tennis dates, Santamaria takes pride in her court conquests.

"Hey, women can do anything now," Santamaria said. "I'm sure some guys can't take losing to a woman. I think it's great when Laura beats a man. I felt great the first time I beat her, but she can still beat me because she knows my style."

Laura has challenged nearly everyone on the ladder, except Jose.

"We'll stick to an occasional mixed doubles match," Santamaria said. "My goal is to beat the people that beat me last season and to improve. And of course, I want to make it to the finals."